Tax Proposals

While the lower rate for carried interest may be unpopular, it plays an important role in encouraging strong investment in hedge funds. The consequences of raising the tax on carried interest could be severe (" Republicans vow to keep taxes low on investment income," News, Aug 27). Hedge funds and private equity play an important role in injecting new capital into the economy, allowing the expansion of businesses and the hiring of new employees. These tax proposals would create a disincentive for new investment and add to the capital freeze that is prolonging our current economic stagnation.

Gov. Rick Scott's ongoing campaign of announcing proposed tax and fee cuts will bring the governor to Orlando on Tuesday. Scott will appear at the Conway Ace Hardware store at 4434 Curry Ford Road at 10 a.m. to announce his plans. The appearance comes a day after Scott reached his proposed $500 million in election-year tax and fee cuts as he rolled out his support for a 15-day hurricane sales-tax holiday projected to save taxpayers $20 million. If approved, it would be the first sales-tax holiday on hurricane supplies since 2007.

Gov. Rick Scott's ongoing campaign of announcing proposed tax and fee cuts will bring the governor to Orlando on Tuesday. Scott will appear at the Conway Ace Hardware store at 4434 Curry Ford Road at 10 a.m. to announce his plans. The appearance comes a day after Scott reached his proposed $500 million in election-year tax and fee cuts as he rolled out his support for a 15-day hurricane sales-tax holiday projected to save taxpayers $20 million. If approved, it would be the first sales-tax holiday on hurricane supplies since 2007.

Florida lawmakers have punted five tax proposals to voters on this year's ballot. Each proposed constitutional amendment would need at least 60 percent support to pass. We think two tax proposals merit a thumbs-up, and three deserve a thumbs-down. Amendment 4 This proposal would reduce the current cap on annual tax increases on nonhomestead property — including commercial properties, second homes and rental properties — from 10 percent to 5 percent. It would provide an extra homestead exemption for first-time homebuyers.

The House and Senate on Tuesday passed separate versions of a nearly $30 billion bare-bones budget as members defeated attempts to raise taxes for schools, social services and law enforcement.Instead of raising revenue, both spending plans impose deep cuts in most of those programs for the fiscal year that starts July 1.''This is not a budget that any of us is going to be proud to go home and describe to our constituents,'' said Sen. Eleanor Weinstock, D-Palm Beach, the only senator to vote against the plan.

TAX PLAN DELAY. Canadians will have to wait until spring for the federal government's comprehensive tax reform proposals, Finance Minister Michael Wilson has announced. The tax proposals couldn't be prepared in time for the federal budget presentation Feb. 18. The government doesn't want to hold up the budget for the tax proposals. ''I do not believe it would be appropriate to defer a budget for that long,'' Wilson told the Commons. Opposition critics charge the delay with the tax plan means there is another broken government promise.

Angry Republican budget negotiators accused Democrats on Friday of giving reporters details of privately offered GOP tax proposals and said the disclosures were threatening deficit-reduction talks.''We are trying to do a difficult job in cooperation with our Democratic colleagues,'' Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., said on the Senate floor. ''It is not going to work if this garbage keeps piling up day after day.''Dole spoke as bargainers began their second week of confidential talks at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside Washington.

It's obviously risky to be making decisions based on election-year tax proposals before knowing for sure who will win the Nov. 5 presidential election and the political make-up of the next Congress.But one proposal that has received bipartisan support and that stands a good chance of becoming law next year would effectively make capital-gains tax a thing of the past for most home sellers.President Clinton and Bob Dole want to allow virtually all home sales to escape tax by exempting up to $500,000 in profit from each home sale starting Jan. 1.It's likely to be at least several months into the new year before Congress acts on any tax proposals.

ZANESVILLE, Ohio -– Vice President Joe Biden kicked off his post-convention solo campaigning by making a populist appeal to voters in working-class communities in southeastern Ohio Saturday afternoon, blasting Mitt Romney 's plans on Medicare and taxes that he said are "just not fair. " Biden mocked the Republicans ' "conversion" to advocates for the middle class that they put on display at the GOP convention, but he said they didn't "have the courage" to explain what their policies would actually mean to struggling families.

As he scooped up cash in Connecticut, President Obama dubbed the tax proposals of his Republican rival an example of " Robin Hood in reverse. " "It's Romney -hood," Obama said Monday night to laughter and whistles of approval at a fundraiser in Stamford , Conn. Obama's play on the prince of thieves was a new dig in an now-familiar theme. Obama has been attacking Mitt Romney's plan to cut income, corporate, estate and other taxes since last week, when an independent policy group concluded that the proposals would either increase the deficit or force lawmakers to increase taxes on the middle class.

The ruling Thursday morning by the U.S. Supreme Court should horrify you. The high court said, in essence, that Congress can tax you for any reason it wants. You haven't bought an electric car? Extra taxes for you. You're not eating a certain amount of Brussels sprouts each month? Extra taxes. You're not sitting up straight? Taxes. That's the message the court conveyed when it handed down its long-anticipated, historic ruling on " Obamacare " -- the president's disastrous health-care act. Constitutional experts bit their nails while waiting to see how the court would rule on whether Obamacare's individual mandate requirement -- effectively forcing people to purchase health insurance -- would pass muster under the Obama administration's flawed, sweeping interpretation of the Constitution's Commerce Clause.

A state proposal to have gas drillers automatically withhold state taxes from lease and royalty payments is drawing criticism from landowners who say they already struggle to ensure they are receiving proper payment for their gas rights. The state chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners, which represents oil and gas leaseholders, said it was surprised by the provision included in an omnibus tax bill, Senate Bill 1541, introduced May 31 and likely to pass with the budget sometime this week.

WASHINGTON -- Almost everyone favors "tax reform" in the abstract: Broaden the tax base by reducing deductions, credits and other tax breaks; and then cut top tax rates. But this sort of sweeping tax reform is usually a political nonstarter, and if you want to understand why, take a look at the tax proposals in President Obama's State of the Union address. His recommendations include: a new corporate tax credit to subsidize moving jobs from abroad back to the United States; a tax credit for companies locating in communities that were "hit hard when a factory left town"; extension of "temporary" tax credits to promote U.S.-produced windmills and solar panels.

Replacing the current federal income tax with the so-called "fair tax" will be discussed at a town hall meeting moderated by WNDB-AM radio host Marc Bernier at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The congressional "fair tax" bill proposes a tax system based on spending and consumption. The forum will be at the Willie Miller Instructional Center, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach, at 7 p.m. Thursday. — Ludmilla Lelis

Osceola County's plans for an amateur-sports complex are ambitious, but tourism officials say the pot of money being considered for the facility is waning and mostly committed to other projects. On Monday, the County Commission is scheduled to pick a site for the complex. The project could carry a price tag of more than $29 million for its first phase, including land and construction costs. Operations, management and maintenance expenses would be additional, but those costs haven't been estimated yet. The complex would play host to all championship tournaments for the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA)